Tuesday, June 7, 2011

It has been a struggle for the Orioles the past two weeks; however, they were able to get rolling early. Brian Matusz along with the bullpen helped them defeat the Oakland Athletics, 4-2.

Baltimore got a solid win in their first contest of a three-game set Oakland – a team that has all but owned them. They touched tough, young starter for the Athletics, Gio Gonzalez for four runs, scoring once in the first inning and three more in the second.

Brian Matusz in his outing, went 5 1/3 innings, and gave up two runs – all earned. That came off an Adam Rosales homer in the fourth inning.

He had three strikeouts and seven hits given on the night. According to various accounts from the media, his velocity was reported to be down – from the low 90’s according to the Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec to a touch below that. However, he was still effective and perhaps his decreased velocity might be due to his time off with an injury.

Hopefully, it comes back. If it does not, Matusz will need to locate his pitches effectively and realize that the margin for error may become razor thin. I do not see that much reason to worry unless he starts getting shelled on a regular basis.